have a long drought and a short rainy season, you always get the ones that are more adaptive to those environments to succeed. >> reporter: if you think it's just a central valley problem, think again. in december, 1977 california was in the middle of a major drought. strong winds near bakersfield scoured the top soil creating a huge dust storm. it shut down highways, toppled utility towers, damaged property and killed livestock. the plume rose 5,000 feet and spread hundreds of miles as far as sacramento like a tidal wave. >> that top soil was shipped up here and just dumped everywhere. >> reporter: in that top soil, valley fever spores. dr. lynn was on duty at a sacramento hospital. >> we experienced several hundred cases from that dust storm here in sacramento. >> reporter: it killed six and spores can now be found in chico and redding. as for lower she knows. >> something in the air. >> reporter: and all it takes is a gust of wind. >> two cases of valley fever were reported in the bay area in the 1970s. it even killed one of the great apes at the san francisco zoo. the symptoms are common like